


Firework Eyes

by Cats_Dont_Float



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F, Humanstuck, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, New Year's Eve, New Years, Soulmates, rated t because these boys swear like sailors, that soulmate au where you see colours when you meet your soulmate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:00:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22039693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cats_Dont_Float/pseuds/Cats_Dont_Float
Summary: In a world where you can only see colours once you make eye contact with your soulmate, Karkat Vantas doesn't see the point of going out to see New Year's Eve fireworks when he can't see them anyway. Luckily, the weird stranger behind him in the queue for coffee makes for pretty good entertainment. Until, that is, he takes his shades off.
Relationships: Dave Strider/Karkat Vantas, Rose Lalonde/Kanaya Maryam
Comments: 10
Kudos: 177





	Firework Eyes

It’s freezing cold outside, and you’re huddled in multiple layers of clothing as you make your way down the road. By your side, you best friend Kanaya seems completely unfazed by the cold, walking along in nothing but a knee-length dress and a small shawl draped over her shoulders. She looks as effortlessly beautiful as ever, and you’re almost jealous.

“Kanaya, please say I can go home,” you grumble, irritated even further when you realise you can see your own breath in the air in front of you.

“No, Karkat, you cannot,” she says firmly, “You never leave the house anymore! And it’s New Year’s Eve! I’d be a terrible friend if I didn’t take you out somewhere nice.”

“Going out to the fucking park in the middle of winter to watch fireworks is not somewhere nice,” you huff, crossing you arms. Kanaya just doesn’t seem to understand that though she’s excited for these fireworks, you’re not exactly thrilled about them. After all, it’s not really possible to enjoy fireworks when you can’t see the colours.

But Kanaya’s your best friend, and she’s been desperate to go and see these fireworks with her girlfriend, and when she insisted you come along, well you couldn’t exactly find any way to say no. So you don’t protest anymore, and allow her to lead you the rest of the way to the local park. After all, Kanaya’s only been dating her soulmate for a few months, and you know she likes it when the two of you hang out together.

“What’s it like, having a soulmate?” You ask her as the two of you walk into the park, where huge crowds of people are already gathering. You shudder slightly as you realise just how busy it is.

Kanaya shrugs faintly. “I already knew I liked Rose before I even met her face to face so… I suppose it just confirmed that she was the person I was meant to be with. But, well, the world’s so much nicer in colour.”

“Mhm, yeah, must be,” you grunt softly. You’ve always been a little bitter that you don’t get to see the same colours as your friends just because you haven’t found your soulmate yet, if they even exist. Most people meet their soulmate when they’re young, and you’re beginning to lose hope of ever finding yours.

Kanaya elbows you in the side gently. “I see Rose,” she says “Time to cheer up.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll try,” you huff softly. Looking up, you spot a familiar woman making her way towards you and Kanaya. Her white hair is pinned back in place by a black headband, and she, just like Kanaya, is not appropriately dressed for a cold park in the middle of winter, wearing a short dress and fishnet tights. You, of course, can’t see the colour of her dress, but from what Kanaya’s told you, Rose mostly wears dark colours, so it’s probably as black as it appears to be.

She embraces Kanaya and kisses her on the cheek, then turns to look at you with a polite nod and a smile.

“It’s good to see you two,” she smiles faintly, glancing over her shoulder as she speaks, “Sorry, forgive me for being so distracted, I brought my half-brother with me, but he has a habit of disappearing.” She huffs faintly, then shakes her head and smiles again, smoothing down the front of her dress.

“Let’s go and find a good spot to watch the fireworks,” She says, “I’m sure my brother will turn up eventually.” She links her arm with Kanaya’sl both of them giggling slightly at the action, and then the two head off into the crowd. You gulp slightly, hunching your shoulders and curling in on yourself as you find yourself surrounded by strangers, and hurry after them as quickly as you can.

The two of them find a spot at the top of a hill where there’s a clear view of the fireworks, and Kanaya produces a picnic blanket from the small bag she’s carrying. The two of them sit down on it, whilst you awkwardly hang around them, but then Kanaya clears her throat to catch your attention and pats a space next to her on the blanket, and you slowly sit down beside her. The girls begin to talk quietly amongst themselves, whilst you sit there shivering in the cold.

“Are you okay, Karkat?” Rose asks after a few moments, looking over Kanaya’s shoulder at you, “You’re shaking a bit.”

“I’m just cold,” you mutter, “Don’t know how you two are coping in those dresses.”

Kanaya laughs softly. “You’re always cold, Karkat,” she tells you.

“There’s a stall selling hot drinks near the park gates, if you wanted to go get one,” Rose adds.

Coffee sounds good right, and you also reckon you should probably give the two of them some time alone together. “Yeah, that sounds good,” you say, “Either of you want anything?”  
When they both shake their heads, you turn and stroll away alone.

It takes you a while to reach the park gates, mostly because you take the longest possible route just to avoid the worst of the crowds, and when you get there there’s a ridiculously long line for coffee. Even so, you join the queue and wait, not having better to do anyway.

“This the back of the queue?” A voice asks, you turn to look over your shoulder. The man standing there is, for some reason, wearing sunglasses despite the fact that it’s dark out, and you instantly decided to be annoyed by him.

“Yeah,” you say, “What does it look like?”

He laughs softly, raising a hand to push his shades up as they slip down his nose. “You’re sassy, I like that,” he says.

“I am not sassy!” You declare, crossing your arms across your chest tightly.

“You are,” he says, “Cute too.”

“Oh fuck off.”

He laughs again, throwing his head back so that his white hair flops backwards and his shades slip out of place again. He seems to be constantly adjusting the stupid things on his face.

“M’name’s Dave,” he says, “Who are you?”

“Karkat,” you tell him, and he nods.

“So, you’re another one of those people that loves fireworks, huh?” He asks, looking up at the sky.

“No,” you huff, “Fucking hate the things. My friend dragged me here. What about you?”

“My sister,” Dave sighs, “Said she didn’t wanna travel here alone, then she ditched me to hang out with someone else.”

“Typical,” you mutter, and Dave murmurs in agreement. “So, like, do you flirt with every stranger you meet or…?”

“Was not flirting!” Dave protests.

“You called me cute!”

“Oh, yeah, shit, forgot about that,” he says, “Huh, no, I guess I don’t flirt with everyone. But I wasn’t lying.”

“Huh?”

“I wasn’t lying when I said you were cute.”

“Oh my god,” you mutter, pressing both hands over your face before groaning into them, “You are such a weirdo.”

Dave laughs again and then bumps his shoulder against yours. “Sorry, I ain’t tryna make you uncomfortable,” he says, “I just thought you liked kinda cool and I wanted to chat with you.”

You can’t help grinning slightly at that, and raise your head from your hands. “Yeah, well, I guess you seem cool too,” you sigh, “Apart from the stupid shades.”

“Dude!” He gasps, placing a hand dramatically over his heart and you instantly regret calling him cool, “Dude! You can’t just go around dissing my shades. These things are the coolest of cool! They’re so cool they’re fucking ice cold!”

“Okay, I get it, oh my fuck,” you laugh, “Don’t hate on the shades, got it.”

“Nah, really, it’s fine,” he says, recovering from his dramatic episode ridiculously quickly, “These shades are purely for ironic purposes.”

“Ah, and that’s why you’re wearing them in the middle of the night,” nodding your head in fake understanding.

“Yeah, now you’re getting it,” he nods along with you, and the two of you manage to keep straight faces for a few seconds until you both break out into laughter.

A few moments later, you realise you’ve reached the front of the queue, and step up to order your coffee, leaving Dave behind. You hear him ordering his own coffee whilst you collect yours and pour sugar into it. Just as you’re about to walk away, there’s suddenly a hand on your arm.

“Hey,” a voice says, and you turn around to find Dave there. “Hey, maybe I’m just assuming things, but I thought we kinda hit it off and uh, I wouldn’t mind talking to you again.”

“Oh, uh, yeah, I guess I wouldn’t hate that,” you admit with a sigh, and he grins.

“Cool, I’ll give you my pesterchum handle. You have pesterchum, right?”

“Uh, yeah, I do,” you tell him, “Sure, give me your handle and then I’ll aaahhh!” You cut yourself off with a shout as a sudden sound like a gunshot rings across the park. 

“Chill dude,” Dave says with a soft laugh, “It’s just the fireworks.”

“Oh, shit, right,” you mutter, then clear your throat awkwardly, “That was, uh, just a joke, screaming like that.”

“It’s okay,” he says, “You’re allowed to admit you’re scared of fireworks.”

“I am not scared!” You protest, shoving his shoulder, “It just startled me!”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” he shrugs, “Come on, let’s get away from the gates, I think we’re gonna get trampled otherwise.”

You nod, and follow him as he starts to head further into the park. It’s gotten even more ridiculously busy, and people are sitting everywhere now. Dave continuously trips over people’s legs until you have to grab his arm and stop him.

“You can’t see for shit in the dark, can you?” You ask, “Take the fucking shades off, dumbass.” When he just stares blankly at you, you add, “You won’t be able to see the fireworks otherwise.”

“Fuck the fireworks,” he declares, and you laugh softly. “Nah, seriously,” he huffs, “It’s fucking sad that I can’t see them, my friends tell me they’re pretty beautiful.”

“Wait, you can’t see the colours either?” You ask.

He shakes his head. “Nah, never found my soulmate,” he mutters, “Not that it matters. I mean, I don’t need a soulmate to feel validated, you know? I can still date people and shit like that.”

“Yeah, I know,” you huff, “It’s hard when everyone only wants to date their soulmate, though.”

“Fucking tell me about it.”

The two of you continue to complain about the stupidity of the entire soulmate thing as you continue to head further into the park. Just ahead you can see the hill where you know Rose and Kanaya are sitting, but for some reason you don’t quite want to leave Dave yet.

Overhead, the fireworks are still exploding continuously, though you’re not quite so startled by the loud noises anymore now that you’re expecting them. You do notice Dave flinch a few times at the noises, though, and consider teasing him for it but for some reason you don’t.

“Right, that’s it, the fucking shades are coming off,” Dave says after a few moments, stopping and reaching up to his face, “Can’t see shit.” He pulls the shades away from his face and folds them over the collar of his shirt before turning to face you.

As he looks over at you, a pain shoots through your head, and you clutch a hand to your forehead as your vision swims. 

“Fuck!” You hiss, blinking heavily. You look up after a few seconds, and then realise that Dave is also clutching at his own head, rubbing his temples with his fingers. He looks up and makes eye contact with you again, and you’re glad to see he looks as confused as you do. Then his mouth drops open in surprise, and you’re even more confused.

“What?” You ask, and he just points silently to something behind your head. You turn and…

Oh. Oh shit.

The fireworks in the sky are no longer greyish blurs against a black background. Now they’re explosions of colour, in more shades than you can name, lighting up everything around them. In the light from each brief explosion, and the light from streetlamps along the park’s paths, you can see random flashes of colour here and there.

“Hey did you…?” You turn back towards Dave, heart starting to race uncomfortably fast, to find him still staring upwards with the exact same shocked look on his face as before.

“The colours? Yeah, I see ‘em,” he says, voice so much quieter and less confident than before.

“Well shit, I guess maybe the soulmate system isn't a load of bullshit like I thought it was,” you say.

“Wait! Really?” He asks, “Like… you’re actually okay with me being your soulmate?”

You shrug. “Why the fuck wouldn’t I be? We’ve only known each other like half an hour and you’ve already been so much more entertaining than most of my other friends.”

He stares for a second more, then grin widely. “Holy shit I'm glad my soulmate’s not an asshole.”

“Did you think I would be?”

“I don’t know dude, there was a chance I’d be saddled with someone awful. Or that I’d never meet you. My brother’s soulmate used to live on an island with a population of two people; it took them fucking year to find each other.” Dave laughs softly, and glances over at you, and for a second you can’t quite tell what he’s thinking from the look on his face and it worries you.

“Hey, Karkat! There you are!” A voice calls suddenly, and you spin around to see Kanaya and Rose approaching.

“Oh, and you found Dave!” Rose grins.

“Wait you’re-” both you and Dave say at the exact same time, and then both of you start laughing.

“Sorry, what’s happening?” Kanaya asks.

“Yes, I’d like to know the same thing,” Rose adds.

“Uh, I guess… we’re like, soulmates,” Dave says.

“Yeah, if the fucking explosions of migraine-inducing colour in the sky right now are enough to go by,” you add.

Both Kanaya and Rose’s jaws drop open in surprise, and then Rose starts to squeal a little excitedly. Both you and Dave step back in surprise, and you’re sure he’s probably just as surprised as you are to hear her making those noises.

“Wait a minute,” you say, suddenly realising something as you look at Rose, “You and Dave both have white hair. I thought it was just a colour I couldn’t see, but nope, you have white hair. What the fuck?”

“Well mine’s pale blonde but I kinda bleach it, and it looks white at night,” Rose says, “And Dave’s albino.”

“Oh, right, makes sense,” you say. You glance around at all of the different colours, still completely unable to deal with all of them, and when you look at Dave you know he’s doing the same thing.

“These colours are making me feel sick,” Dave says eventually, then turns to you, “Hey, Karkat, wanna get the fuck out of here?”

You glance back up at the fireworks, which are admittedly quite beautiful, then at Dave, and decide he’s much more beautiful. “Yeah. Fuck the fireworks,” you declare, “There’s a pizza place down the road. You want pizza? I want pizza.”

“Fuck yeah I want pizza,” he declares.

“We’ll see you boys later,” Kanaya smiles, whilst Rose waves with a small smirk in your direction. The two of you both laugh, slightly embarrassed, and then turn and walk away, back towards the park gates. And, when you feel Dave reaching for your hand, you let him grab onto it and lace your fingers together as you walk through the park, the last of the fireworks exploding overhead.

Ten minutes later, as the two of you stand in the tacky neon lighting of a pizza place, you stand and stare at Dave for a few moments as he gets distracted by the menu, and you realise his eyes are a strangely bright colour. You don’t know the name of it yet, but you saw a firework that colour either, and it’s definitely your favourite colour you’ve seen yet. Firework-coloured eyes. They’re beautiful.

Later, as you wander down the street together you stop him underneath a streetlight to look at the way his white hair glows under the warm light. And when he leans in to kiss you, well…. You’d be an idiot to stop him. His lips are warm and soft against yours, and you decide that you could definitely get used to the idea of having him as a soulmate.

"Happy new year, Karkat," he whispers to you, hands squeezing your arms gently.

"Happy new year, Dave."

**Author's Note:**

> (yes i know this soulmate au is a trend on tiktok, no i don't care, yes i shamelessly love tiktok, yes i wrote this anyway)  
> it's almost midnight, i wanted to get this posted before tomorrow, so here we are. last fic of 2019 wooooo! anyway i actually had something i wanted to say, so here we fucking go (about to get sappy, warning)  
> 2019 was shitty for me, so like, there's that, but like i've loved writing fics this year and i really wanna say a big thank you to everyone who reads and comments on these regularly. you guys are super cool.  
> regarding next year: i'm still gonna be writing fics (obviously, this is like my only hobby) but alsooo i wanna focus on some of my own original writing next year so this account might be a little less active (probably not tho because we've all seen i can't go without writing a fic for like a week)  
> anyway, happy new year to all of you, i'll see you all in 2020! :)


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